Selling your birthright for a bowl of soup

I just read this morning about the births of Esau and Jacob. Much could be said about this story. Paul speaks of Jacob's election in Romans 9. Jacob was a swindler, liar, and a cheat, yet he stills gets Isaac's blessing. Families can be really dysfunctional sometimes, and we see that in several instances in Scripture.

But the thing that hit me most this morning was Esau's selling of his birthright for a bowl of soup. The first few times I read that story I thought that Esau was just plain foolish, or perhaps he didn't care about the birthright, or maybe he really did believe he was going to die if he didn't get something to eat. But recently as I read this account I realized just how willing we are sometimes to give up what is really important, but future, for something that is trivial but present.

Esau wanted to satisfy the hunger of his flesh.There's nothing wrong with satisfying your hunger. Everyone gets hungry. And it is true that if Jacob were any kind of brother at all he would have given Esau something to eat out of compassion. Still, it just amazes me that Esau would give up his birthright for a bowl of soup. The birthright was his claim as the first born son to the inheritance of his fathers home. I would think that would be fantastically important to him, but it wasn't. For a single meal, he gave up the wealth of his future.

Now, what does that have to do with us? We too have an inheritance. We are promised all that God has to give us in Jesus Christ His Son. The inheritance of eternal life and a heavenly home become our birthright when we are joined to Jesus Christ by faith. All that is His becomes ours, under His Lordship of course, but even as a husband lovingly bestows all his possessions and honors upon his wife, so Christ bestows all His possessions and honors upon His bride, the church. That's us.

So why is it that we are so willing to trade our birthright for a bowl of soup? Why would we give up Christ for temporary pleasures? Why would we forsake our Lord to commit adultery, lie, steal, lose our temper, live like gluttons, and etc.?

Hebrew says it like this:

^"14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: ^15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; ^16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. ^17 For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears." Heb 12:14-17

 

There is a powerful warning in that passage because Esau wanted his blessing back, but once it was lost it could not be retrieved. I believe there are people who have given up their heavenly birthright with some notion that when it suits them they will seek repentance, but will find "no place for repentance, though [they seek] it diligently with tears." That's not popular theology and an unwelcome notion to some versions of the "once saved always saved" doctrine. 

 

There is a profound truth in the perseverance of God's children and the unfailing love of God towards His own, but it is plain heresy to claim that we can accept the gift of grace in Christ, then go out and live any way we please, believing that when we're near the end we can shed a few tears and be welcomed into heaven. The writer of Hebrews in 10:29 calls that "trampling the Son of God underfoot, counting the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulting the Spirit of grace." God forbid!

As a pastor it breaks my heart so often to see people who are doing those very things. I pray for them and trust them to the grace of God, but I do not hold out great hopes for the so called death bed confession of a life long denier of Christ who in the end says he/she doesn't want to go to hell.

My bigger concern, however, is making sure I "pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord." I do not want to sell my birthright in Christ for a bowl of soup, a fat bank account, a prestigious job, an adulterous affair, a summer beach home, or a big name for myself. There is a Spirit welling up within me, that constantly comforts, guides, warns, directs, encourages, convicts, and etc. This Spirit informs me that the treasure of Christ is more precious than all that the temporary comforts of the world have to offer. 

How about you?